The mission of the Massachusetts Policy and Organizing Leadership Academy (The Academy) is to help leaders and organizations effectively and confidently participate in public life and influence the advancement of social, economic and racial justice.

Leadership Programs

Intensive Leadership Programs

The Academy offers customized, affordable Leadership Training Programs for your organization’s staff, board members, and program leaders, or for issue coalitions and networks.

The Academy’s Leadership Program will help you learn to build a successful campaign from the ground up for your issue, even now, during the current fiscal crisis. Walk step by step through campaign planning and practice with experienced experts. Become a leader for your issue and a leader for positive change in your community!

While a Leadership Program can be customized for your issue, the Academy specializes in teaching leadership during a fiscal crisis and advocacy for change within an organization or institution:

Organizing in Hard Economic Times

Advocating for public programs is hard enough in good times. This training program teaches core organizing tactics for leaders, board members and staff of community-based organizations who are advocating for particular policy changes to repair and reform a specific public program during a “fiscal crisis” caused by diminishing or inadequate revenues.

What you’ll learn and practice:

Basic literacy in budget and tax policy

Message development about government role in building and maintaining public infrastructure

Organizing how-to’s and customizable train-the-trainer materials

How to talk about tax policy to policymakers, friends, neighbors and the media

How to organize a district-based public meeting with policymakers

How to build and maintain a power-sharing campaign coalition

Organizing for Change

Community organizations often organize others; this training program helps leaders, board members and staff of community-based groups develop the capacity to organize themselves. Strengthen internal capacity to advocate for social, economic and racial justice by working together with others to plan and implement a campaign to promote a positive policy change within a public or private institution.

What you’ll learn and practice:

Review standards and principles of campaign strategies to implement internally

Problem dissection & setting research objectives

Building & managing a campaign coalition

Developing a shared decision-making process

Community organizing

Message development

Media relations

Grassroots leadership development

Advocacy skill building

Train The Trainer

One of our most “fun” trainings is teaching folk how to develop a winning message that will convince everyone from your Mother to your State Rep to say — ” Great idea! How can I help?

Making Public Policy the Real Clout way with Judy Meredith “Policy are rules made up by people in authority to control the behaviors of people in their (families) (workplaces) (communities) (states) (countries)”